Scottish inventions and discoveries are objects, processes or techniques either partially or entirely invented or discovered by a person born in or descended from Scotland. In some cases, an invention's Scottishness is determined by the fact that it came into existence in Scotland (e.g., animal cloning), by non-Scots working in the country. Often, things that are discovered for the first time are also called "inventions" and in many cases there is no clear line between the two.

The Scots take enormous pride in the history of Scottish invention and discovery. There are many books devoted solely to the subject, as well as scores of websites listing Scottish inventions and discoveries with varying degrees of science.

Field intelligence. Argued for the establishment of the Intelligence Corps. Wrote Field Intelligence: Its Principles and Practice (1904) and Reconnaissance (1907) on the tactical intelligence of modern warfare during World War I.[31]

Special forces: Founded by Sir David Stirling, the SAS was created in World War II in the North Africa campaign to go behind enemy lines to destroy and disrupt the enemy. Since then it as been regarded as the most famous and influential special forces that has inspired other countries to form their own special forces too.

The Waverley pen nib innovations thereof: Duncan Cameron (1850) The popular "Waverley" was unique in design with a narrow waist and an upturned tip designed to made the ink flow more smoothly on the paper.[57]

The first modern pharmacopaedia, William Cullen (1776). The book became 'Europe's principal text on the classification and treatment of disease'. His ideas survive in the terms nervous energy and neuroses (a word that Cullen coined).[60]

The discovery of the Composition of Saturn's Rings James Clerk Maxwell (1859): determined the rings of Saturn were composed of numerous small particles, all independently orbiting the planet. At the time it was generally thought the rings were solid. The Maxwell Ringlet and Maxwell Gap were named in his honor.[79]

Metaflex fabric innovations thereof: University of St. Andrews (2010) application of the first manufacturing fabrics that manipulate light in bending it around a subject. Before this such light manipulating atoms were fixed on flat hard surfaces. The team at St Andrews are the first to develop the concept to fabric.[113]

Gaelic handball The modern game of handball is first recorded in Scotland in 1427, when King James I an ardent handball player had his men block up a cellar window in his palace courtyard that was interfering with his game.[125]

Transplant rejection: Professor Thomas Gibson (1940s) the first medical doctor to understand the relationship between donor graft tissue and host tissue rejection and tissue transplantation by his work on aviation burns victims during World War II.[131]

Chemical Telegraph (Automatic Telegraphy) Alexander Bain (1846) In England Bain's telegraph was used on the wires of the Electric Telegraph Company to a limited extent, and in 1850 it was used in America.[174]

The establishment of modern Indian educational institutions: Alexander Duff the establishment of mass Hindu education thereof[185]

The establishment of a standardized botanical institute: Isaac Bayley Balfour major reform, development of botanical science, the concept of garden infrastructure therein improving scientific facilities[186]

^Wicks, Robert S. and Harrison, Roland H. (1999). Buried Cities, Forgotten Gods: William Niven's Life of Discovery and Revolution in Mexico and the American Southwest, Texas Tech University Press. ISBN 0-89672-414-X

^Walker; J. (9 October 2005). "UQ Team Defeats Cervical Cancer". The Courier-Mail. "Ian Frazer's break-through vaccine is 100 per cent effective against the most common form of the virus that causes cervical cancer, according to final-stage trial results [...] a delighted Professor Frazer, 52, said last night: 'It is very rare, almost unheard of, to achieve a 100 per cent efficacy rate in any treatment, so these results are truly wonderful.'"

Great Scottish inventions and discoveries: a concise guide : a selection of Scottish inventions and discoveries made over a period stretching back to the fifteenth century, John Geddes, Northern Books, 1994

The Scottish invention of America, democracy and human rights: a history of liberty and freedom from the ancient Celts to the New Millennium, Alexander Leslie Klieforth, Robert John Munro, University Press of America, 2004, ISBN 0-7618-2791-9, ISBN 978-0-7618-2791-7